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40-Day Challenge: Hope (Day 14)

When I first started writing this post, “H” stood for “Humor.” How a judicious use of the funny bone can keep a marriage — and a household — on track. How the lack of it throws the soul out of whack, making us susceptible to a wide range of negative physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences.

As I sat in church this morning, however, I realized that there is an even more important soul brightener: hope. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love are essential components of any marriage. But as love leads us to give ourselves without reservation, and faith binds us together whenever we are apart, it is hope that sustains a marriage when the dark clouds begin to gather.

The Compendium of the Catechism (#387) states that to hope is to “desire and await from God eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our earthly life.” Within the context of marriage, these same graces of the Holy Spirit cause us to persevere with faith and love in the hard times.

To be honest, it is hope that inspired me to begin this 40-Day challenge. For a variety of reasons, we’re going through a time of transition here at the Saxton House. Work, school, and health issues swirl around in a such a stifling cloud, at times it can be hard to keep priorities in order. It can also be difficult to know how to pray, apart from a generic, “Thy will be done.”

On the other hand, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have two things I can count on: my faith in God (and His faithfulness to us), and the faithful love of my husband. This love expresses itself in different ways on different days, but because of the faith and love we share in God and in one another, there is every reason to hope that, so long as we persevere, there will be good days ahead.

Today’s challenge: If hope is based on the promises of God, how much do you know about those promises? Check out this site, which has selected promises of God for each book of the Bible!

Today’s prayer: Jesus, I trust in you. Help me to grow in faith, hope, and love . . . and to trust in Your plan for our lives. When I am tempted to force things to go my own way, help me to rely on the goodness of Your plan for me. Amen.

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About hsaxton

Heidi Hess Saxton is an adoptive parent of two children, and converted to Catholicism in 1994. She is adoptive parent columnist at CatholicMom.com and CatholicExchange.com. She also writes for the Parenting Channel at AnnArbor.com. In her spare time, she is finishing up her Master's thesis at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.